Along an assembly line, diapers and various types of other absorbent articles may be assembled by adding components to and otherwise modifying an advancing, continuous web of material. For example, in some processes, advancing webs of material are combined with other advancing webs of material. In other examples, individual components created from advancing webs of material are combined with advancing webs of material, which in turn, are then combined with other advancing webs of material. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: backsheets, topsheets, absorbent cores, front and/or back ears, fastener components, and various types of webs and components such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, and waist elastics. Once the desired component parts are assembled, the advancing web(s) and component parts are subjected to a final knife cut to separate the web(s) into discrete diapers or other absorbent articles. The discrete diapers or absorbent articles may also then be folded and packaged.
As mentioned above, during the assembly process, component parts such as elastics and other materials are used to manufacture diapers. Generally, a number of component parts have been added to absorbent articles to improve the fit of the absorbent article, to reduce leakage of the absorbent article, and to reduce irritation to the skin of the wearer of the absorbent article. To accomplish these objectives, absorbent articles having an opening that provides a passageway to void space for collected feces and urine have been proposed. Similarly, absorbent articles having a barrier member to create separate areas for urine and feces have also been proposed.
However, it has been found that these absorbent articles are expensive to manufacture due to the added number of component parts. For example, elastics and additional non-woven materials have been added to the absorbent article to create a barrier for feces and urine. Further, these absorbent articles are difficult to manufacture due to the complexity of adding additional component parts to partition the absorbent article while maintaining relatively high manufacturing speeds.
In addition, some absorbent articles that currently provide a means for separating feces and urine are inadequate. For example, it has been found that barrier members may fail to provide the desired tension across the absorbent article to separate bodily exudates. More specifically, once the absorbent article has been placed on the wearer, the barrier members have been found to slump or bunch such that the barrier member loses contact with the wearer and provides an opening to allow feces and urine to move uninhibited throughout the absorbent article.
Thus, a need exists for improved methods of manufacturing absorbent articles including discrete barrier members that separate feces and urine and are more easily maintained in close contact with the wearer's body.